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Hi! We are in the market (US - Midwest) for a 48" upright piano. We came across the Yamaha U1 which my wife loves. She is hooked on the brighter sound of it. I don't play piano but I thought the Kawai K3's sound is different but I like it just as much.

The store offers us the Yamaha U1 for $5800 + tax, Kawai K3 for $5000 + tax (both pianos come with delivery, a tuning at delivery and 6-9 mos later tuning).

I wonder if someone can comment on these prices whether they are high or low or jump on it at once .

After doing some research for a piano player (my wife), I find Kawai offers more and about $1000 less for the same model by Yamaha. As far as sound (I'm not a piano player but I had a few pricey speakers in the past ), I find Kawai has deep sounds vs. brighter sounds of Yamaha.

Correction! I ended up paying $5890 for the U1 + tax. It comes with delivery and 2 tunings. I assumed it was still a great deal therefore I didn't question the salesperson who said $5800 previously or I just heard it wrong.

Poisy: I'm living in Midwest and looking for Yamaha U1. The price you got is $2500 less the dealer gave me. Could you let me know your store's name and phone number if you don't mind? Thanks in advance.

If you have extra money, try to get YUS1 instead of U1. And if you have too much money, the YUS5 is the piano that you want to get. But I do not know yet the real price for this. YUS5 is amazing piano.

Poisy, you got reasonable price. Most people who do not know had paid much more than you. Dealers need to make money, they have family to feed, but I just mind if they are charging U1 for $8K. They can do this because the MSRP is very high. For those who did not do any research will end up paying that much. It is their fault, but if there are too many ignorant people, the price will go up and dealers will not sell at reasonable price since there are many people who are willing to pay high price.

Hi pianoca, I'm just joking about it. I'm happy when I get a good deal; therefore I feel the same for everyone who gets even better deal than mine. I just thought cost of living in California is high therefore pianos cost more. I am surprised.

Hi RonaldSteiway, Actually I had my own problem when I bought my U1. I came into the store near work, looking around at cheaper pianos than a U1 like Pearl River or Kawai K2. In passing I asked the price of a U1 and he quoted me at $58.. something. For awhile (about 2 weeks) we were looking at the K3 but then decided to go for the U1 at exact quote of $5890. The salesperson said he had no U1 except the floor model. We told him we would take it then he told me that he couldn't sell it to me anyway because I don't live in his Yamaha area. (somewhat confused and frustrated) We went to 2 other Yamaha stores to look for a U1 (I was priced at $6180 and $6400). Then we got a call from the original store to tell us that he got 3 U1's arrived that weekend and he would sell it at the quoted price $5890 + he got permission from my local Yamaha region to sell me a Yamaha U1. He offered me to stop by his warehouse and pick out the U1 we want (he explained that no U1 sounds exactly the same, pick out the one that sounded best to my ears).

Even though I'm happy with the deal + the owner took the time to make things right. But why making us traveled back and forth to other stores and confused in between.

I only heard up to a U3 and it sounds way better than my U1. My wife decided to buy the U1 over a K3 and that was how to story went. I'd love to hear the sound of a YUS5 once to know what people are telling how great it sounds.

California is closer to Japan. Pianos come from Japan in containers, and the container ships dock in California ports. To get to elsewhere in the country, additional ground transportation and warehousing would be needed. Well, at least that why I think Japanese pianos are cheaper in California.

I just got a call from the place which offered $6400 for a U1 awhile back, but now they wanted to sell it at $5900. I asked them about selling a Yamaha outside of their region. The salesperson said he wasn't aware of this issue. Very interesting , but I thanked him that I already bought one almost 2 months back.

I'm also trying to decide between the Kawai K3 and the Yamaha U1. I actually like the Kawai a little better, but the Yamaha is probably a better investment. I'm going back and forth between the to dealers right now, and the Yamaha dealer just came down to match the Kawai price!